ARC Raiders Workshop Upgrade Items: Every Station Cost

ARC Raiders workshop upgrade items are where your account actually gets stronger. Level 1 of every bench costs basics you'll have within a few sessions; every level after that wants parts pulled off specific ARC machines. So the useful question isn't "what does the Gunsmith need", it's "which ARC am I hunting this week".

Updated 2026-10-28: Live Update 2.3.0 (October 27) changes no station costs. In the Workshop it only reorders the subnavigation to match the tile order, so the Basic Workbench (the free Workbench below) now sits right after Scrappy.

The eight Workshop stations at a glance

You start with the Workbench, which is free and stays at level 1. Six more stations are built and leveled with materials, up to level 3, and the Gunsmith gets a fourth level once you've unlocked the Outpost. Frozen Trail also added the Research Station, whose level can never pass your Outpost's. Every level is its own material list, and nothing carries between stations.

For what each station actually crafts, see our ARC Raiders crafting guide. This page is the shopping list.

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Every upgrade cost by station

These costs match the Workshop page of the ARC Raiders Wiki as of October 14, 2026.

Gunsmith (weapons, mods, upgrades)

Level 4 is what Weapon Amplification needs, together with Research Station 4. Magnetic Accelerators come from a level 3 Refiner or off the Queen and Matriarch, so the Gunsmith's top level leans on late-game content either way.

Image: Gunsmith level 4, ARC Raiders Wiki (arcraiders.wiki). Game art is the property of Embark Studios.

Gear Bench (augments and shields)

Medical Lab (healing)

Explosives Station (grenades and mines)

Utility Station (gadgets, Raider Hatch Key)

Image: Utility Station level 2, ARC Raiders Wiki (arcraiders.wiki). Game art is the property of Embark Studios.

Refiner (components)

Research Station (needs Outpost)

Each Research Station level also needs the matching Outpost level. Our Outpost guide covers the unlock project.

Where the ARC parts drop

Level 1 is basics, and Scrappy alone brings in Metal Parts, Fabric, Plastic Parts, Chemicals and Rubber Parts while you're out on raids. Levels 2 and 3 are where you start hunting. Rusted Tools and Rusted Gear come from containers (bus trunks, metal crates, car tool cabinets), but most of the rest only drops from specific ARC:

The Courier shows up a lot in that list, which makes it the best single target when you need several level 2 parts at once. Our enemy types guide covers how to bring each of these machines down.

GODEEPER: Which loot to recycle into basics and which to keep for the Workshop. ARC Raiders Loot Guide →

Which station to upgrade first

1. Gunsmith 1. Cheap basics, and it's where the Ferro upgrades live. A Ferro IV cuts reload time by 39% against the one you start with.
2. Refiner 1. Its level 1 crafts (Mechanical Components, Electrical Components, Durable Cloth, Crude Explosives) are exactly what the Gunsmith, Gear Bench, Medical Lab, Explosives Station and Utility Station ask for at level 2. We'd rather make them than wait on container luck.
3. Gear Bench or Medical Lab. Gear Bench if Raiders keep killing you (shields and augments), Medical Lab if you're losing fights to attrition.
4. Utility Station 2 once you carry loot worth protecting: it's where the Raider Hatch Key recipe lives, if you also have the Traveling Tinkerer skill.
5. Explosives Station when your squad leans on grenades, and Research Station only after the Outpost is open.

Spread level 1 across every bench before you push any one station to 3. Level 1 is cheap, and the higher levels are gated by ARC drops you'll be collecting anyway.

Tips and common mistakes

Don't sell or recycle ARC parts on reflex. Every name in the drop table feeds a level 2 or 3 upgrade. If a part shows up from an unrelated fight, bank it. Sentinel Firing Cores are the classic one, since Gunsmith 3 wants four of them.

Don't treat Fabric and ARC Alloy as filler. Fabric feeds the Gear Bench and Medical Lab at level 1, and ARC Alloy feeds the Medical Lab, Explosives Station and Utility Station. Between them they're in four of the six level 1 costs.

Don't confuse station levels with blueprints. A blueprint unlocks a specific recipe, but you still need the station at the right level to craft it. A top-tier blueprint does nothing on a level 1 bench.

Don't plan around an Expedition reset right now. An Expedition resets your Workshop along with your level, skills, stash upgrades and learned blueprints, in exchange for buffs like a repair discount and an XP boost. The wiki lists the Expedition project as paused for a rework, so for now your station levels are safe.

GODEEPER: What the Outpost unlocks and how to start it. ARC Raiders Outpost Guide →

How we checked this

We rechecked every station cost on October 14, 2026 against the Workshop page of the ARC Raiders Wiki, the drop sources against each item's wiki page, and the Outpost and Research Station against Embark's Frozen Trail 2.0 notes. We haven't leveled these stations ourselves for this guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Workshop stations are there in ARC Raiders? Eight. The free Workbench, six stations you build and level (Gunsmith, Gear Bench, Medical Lab, Explosives Station, Utility Station, Refiner), and the Research Station, which opens once you unlock the Outpost added in Frozen Trail.

Which Workshop station should I upgrade first in ARC Raiders? We'd build the Gunsmith and the Refiner first. The Refiner's level 1 makes the Mechanical Components, Electrical Components, Durable Cloth and Crude Explosives that five other stations need for level 2.

What does Gunsmith level 3 need in ARC Raiders? 3 Rusted Gear, 5 Advanced Mechanical Components and 4 Sentinel Firing Cores. Firing Cores come from Sentinels and Couriers. Level 4 needs the Outpost plus 3 Radial Press, 3 Magnetic Accelerator and 1 Emperor Modulator.

Do Workshop upgrades reset in ARC Raiders? Only through an Expedition, which resets the Workshop along with your level, skills, stash upgrades and blueprints. Expeditions are paused while Embark reworks them, so nothing resets right now.

Related Reading

• ARC Raiders Crafting Guide: Workshop Stations and Recipes: what each station crafts, blueprints and field crafting.
• ARC Raiders Outpost Guide: the unlock that opens the Research Station and Gunsmith 4.
• ARC Raiders Enemy Types Guide: how to take down the ARC that drop upgrade parts.
• ARC Raiders Augments Guide: Best Frames Ranked 2026: what the Gear Bench builds once it's leveled.

References

• Workshop, ARC Raiders Wiki: per-station upgrade costs and crafts
• Expedition, ARC Raiders Wiki: reset list and the current pause
• Frozen Trail 2.0 update notes, Embark Studios: Outpost and Research Station
• Live Update 2.3.0, Embark Studios: Workshop subnavigation reorder, accessed 2026-10-28
• ARC Raiders on Steam